The Republic of Turkey
Capital City: Ankara
Largest Cities : İstanbul, Ankara, İzmir, Adana, Antalya, Konya, Bursa, Kayseri, Samsun, Trabzon, Erzurum, Eskişehir, Kocaeli, Diyarbakır, Sakarya, Mersin, Gaziantep.
Area: 814.578 km
Coastal Length: 7.200 km
Coastal Borders: Mediterranean Sea at south; Aegean Sea at west; Black Sea at north
Language: Turkish
Neighboring Countries: Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Greece, Georgia, Iraq, Armenia, Iran, Syria
Population: 74.724.000 (31 December 2011)
Number of Cities: 81
Turkey has a unique strategic position at the crossroads of East and West which endows this country with nearly ten-thousand years of history. As part of Asia and part of Europe, Turkey has remarkably wide climatic and geographical variations. Due to its location, surrounded by seas on three sides, Turkey as always been the center of great trade, silk and spice routes. Today, even in the most inaccessible or isolated corners, one can easily feel and see the traces of different cultures. As Turkish landscape encompasses a vast variety of geographical zone, it has the combined characteristics of the three continents of the world: Europe, Africa and Asia.
Because of its geographical location, Anatolia has always been important throughout history and is the birthplace of many great civilizations.
The surface area of Turkey including the lakes is 814,578 km² / 314,503 sq miles. It is much larger than many European countries or even Texas (18%) in the US. Out of the total land, 97% is in Asia and this part is called Anatolia or Asia Minor; 3% is in Europe which is called Thrace.
Although 97% of Turkey is located in Asia, in many respects it is accepted as a European country and as a result, Turkey takes its place in nearly all European contests and associations.
With regards to PPP, Turkey has the fifteenth-largest GDP in the world. It occupies the seventeenth place with respect to nominal GDP. The economy is largely market-based that has a greater role for the private sector. Agriculture is an important pillar of the economy of Turkey. Banking, electronics, construction, home appliances, textiles, iron and steel, oil-refining, petrochemical products, food, mining, machine industry and automotive industry are the major sectors/industries. Turkey has a rapidly growing automotive industry; fifteenth-largest in the world. Tourism is also important. The main export partners in of Turkey include Germany, France, United Kingdom, Iraq, and Italy; while Russia, Germany, China, Italy, France, and the US are the major import partners.